And what a slog it is to immerse oneself in French culture, said no one ever. Of course, fluency is best achieved by embracing all things French. Imagine the burden of being a corporate director tasked with conducting a thorough executive search, or a CEO who must learn the language of Molière on someone else’s dime. The plight of these captains of industry cannot be understated. Rousseau’s gaffe, is complicating their jobs. It seems the current language controversy, sparked by Mr. who must now exert themselves to find yet another French-speaking CEO to replace the outgoing Jean-Jacques Ruest. He’s giving himself one year to do it even though his previous language classes yielded “mixed results.“Īnd let’s not forget those hapless directors of Canadian National Railway Co. He was forced to postpone a mostly English speech in Montreal to buy himself time to brush up on his French.

Spare a thought, too, for SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.’s CEO, Ian Edwards. Still, it must have been quite a shock for him to suddenly learn that being an effective business leader actually involves speaking to people, including Canada’s eight million francophones.

Rousseau has since apologized for offending francophones and has committed to conjugating his -er verbs like an earnest elementary school student.Īir Canada CEO pledges to learn French amid backlash in Quebec over language comments And I think that’s a testament to the city of Montreal,” Mr. “I’ve been able to live in Montreal without speaking French.

I cant speek french